Little Things, Big Things
by Kiearrah Mai Rhone
Summary: This is the story of Jack Hashing, a boy who is going into eighth grade. A boy who battles hard feelings and sadness. A boy who battles the things at school. A boy who battles sin. A boy who battles life.


**Yay! A new story to work on! I hope you guys enjoy. This idea has been on my mind for a while now, and I think it should be able to be updated semi-often seeing as I already have a pretty big plan of where I want this to go. I almost NEVER go according to plan though, so we will see how this goes!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skillet music.**

* * *

Jack looked up at the entrance of Spring Ridge Middle School with a dead weight in his stomach. When he looked at the doors he saw a large welcome banner was hanging on the wall above them. Jack had a metallic taste in his mouth as he walked past the bike racks on his right and the flagpole to his left. He shifted his gaze from the school logo on the glass doors to the ground. He didn't know how he would be able to survive this year, his last year of middle school. How was he going to go through with this year without her? She had always been there for him; she understood him like no one else could, but not anymore. _Stop it! _ Jack told himself, _you__ can do this, stop thinking about her and making yourself miserable. _Jack took a deep breath and walked into the building.

* * *

Jack plopped his heavy blue backpack down onto the ground next to the desk that he had chosen in home room. He sat down heavily and rested his head on his right fist while he waited for the class to start.

The name 'Mrs. Bellaunt' was written on the board in large loopy printing. Mrs. Bellaunt sat at her desk and was looking down at some papers that were in a folder. She had tight ringlets of salt and pepper colored hair that came down to about her shoulders. Jack couldn't see much of her face because of the way she was facing, but he could tell that she had small, rectangular glasses with slim frames. She looked very petite, but at the same time she seemed very sturdy and had an aura of authority.

Jack watched the kids around him as they filed in and found their seats. Many of them knew each other and were talking and laughing together, sharing the events of the summer with their friends. Jack noticed one particular group and didn't like the look of them. There were four girls and four boys standing together and talking in the back corner of the room.

The girls were all wearing the newest styles; super high shorts (Jack wondered whether they had more fabric than his pencil-case), and tank-tops with too much lace and sparkles on them. The guys hair was definitely way too long and was in that weird flippy style that had recently become popular. Jack sighed. The dress code—if you could call it one—really sucked at his school. One of the girls seemed to be the one that the others looked up to. She had blond hair that was obviously curled with an iron, too much makeup, and a haughty looking face.

After a few minutes Mrs. Bellaunt put down the papers that she was holding and stood up. She cleared her throat for attention as everyone found their seats. "Good morning class. My name is Mrs. Bellaunt; welcome to your home room class this year!"

Jack liked her already. Last year his home room teacher had this squeaky voice and talked to the class like they were three-year-olds. Mrs. Bellaunt, however, was talking to them like they were actually worth a conversation. Even though he still didn't know much about her, Jack could tell that he was going to like Mrs. Bellaunt.

"The first thing we are going to do each morning this year is take attendance," she continued. "I am sure that you are all familiar with this process and will help me make it as fast and easy as possible, right?" She looked around at us all but no one answered. Mrs. Bellaunt sighed, "Well I suppose you don't know everything. What do you do when a teacher asks a question?" She said. "Come on, you should know this. You're in eighth grade now for heaven's sake!" She eyed us disapprovingly.

"You answer them!" Someone called out from the back at the same time that the girl in front of Jack raised her hand. Mrs. Bellaunt ignored the one who called out and nodded to the girl who raised her hand.

"You raise your hand if you know the answer," The girl said. She reminded Jack of her, how she had always known the answer, and had always raised her hand. A lump appeared in his throat. _Shouldn't have thought of that,_ Jack said to didn't need reminding of her now, he was in class for heavens sake!

"Excellent, thank you! But now as I was saying-attendance. I will call you out by name in alphabetical order, and when your name is called come up to my desk and I'll hand you a folder with your name on it. Inside you will find the combination for your locker and your locker number. In the folder is also your class schedule for the year."

Mrs. Bellaunt started listing off names and eventually they got through them all. The rest of the class went pretty quickly after that; Mrs. Bellaunt told them a bit about herself and the types of things that they would be doing in her class throughout the year.

When the bell rang Jack looked at his schedule and saw that he had math next in room 210. He groaned inwardly; Jack despised math.

* * *

The rest of Jack's classes until lunch went just as smoothly as the first. Some teachers he liked more than others, but he still favored Mrs. Bellaunt more than any of them. Some were strict, some were funny; some were boring, some were better at getting their point across in creative ways; but Mrs. Bellaunt, well, there was just something about her that made Jack take a liking to her more so than the other teachers.

At lunch Jack found an empty table and sat down. He put his small fabric cooler on the table and took everything out to see what his mom had packed for his lunch today. There was a small water bottle, a sandwich, a granola bar, and a fruit strip. It was healthy, but who said that healthy food couldn't taste good? Jack smiled and silently thanked his mom; all the things in his lunch were some of those that he enjoyed.

Jack looked around the cafeteria from the table that he was at in the farthest corner of the room from the doors. He wondered if it had always looked so shabby and rundown; the paint on the walls was faded and stained, the fake wood-looking plastic on the tables was decrepit and peeling, and the seats were in rather poor condition as well. Maybe it was because they had always eaten together, just them, and they were so involved in each others company that they hadn't noticed the area around them. He wished she were here now. It wouldn't feel so empty. Jack shook himself out of those overbearing sad thoughts and bowed his head to pray.

_Heavenly Father, you give and you take away. You are amazing in what you have given me. I praise you for how great and powerful you are. I thank you for providing the income of my dad's job so that we could afford such good food for us to eat._ Jack took a deep breath and continued, _I thank you that even though sometimes I may not like it, you have provided a place for me to learn and be educated so that I can get a good job someday. Lord, please be with me as I go about this year; help me to be the person you want me to be; help me to be like you. In Jesus name, Amen._

Jack looked up and saw a girl with bouncy red curls walking among the tables looking for one to sit at. She held one of the school trays. Jack watched her look around, see his nearly empty table, and walk over towards him. As she got closer Jack saw that she had a light sprinkling of freckles on her cheeks and nose, and she had hazel eyes that were behind a rectangular pair of light pink glasses. Jack wondered why she had chosen to sit with him, there were several other tables that had plenty of room to sit. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, looked back at his food, and started eating.

"Mind if I sit here?" The girl asked when she got to where Jack was sitting. "The table I was at was too crowded for my likings." She set her tray down on the table. It had some sort of noodles and sauce, an apple and a small carton of milk on it.

"Sure, go ahead." Jack nodded.

"Ugh, school food. I literally had no time to pack a lunch at home today. At least it isn't usually too bad; this stuff even looks like it might actually be good. The lunch lady said that it was pizza pasta. Oh! I should probably introduce myself. I'm Lilian, what's your name?" She said all of this really fast; Jack had a hard time keeping up but he got it all and smiled as he answered, "I'm Jack. And yeah, the school food thankfully isn't too bad, but I like lunch from home better anyway."

Lilian grinned. "Wish I had a sandwich like yours; it looks really good. What exactly do you have on it?"

Jack pried open a corner of his sandwich as he said, "Peanut butter, bananas and chocolate chips." He put down the sandwich and started opening his granola bar. "My mom packed my lunch for me today. I love it when she does because she always puts just the right stuff in. I like when she makes a sandwich; she makes them perfectly; always just the right combination of ingredients!" Jack took a large bite out of the sandwich.

"Sweet. I wish my mom could pack my lunch for me. She is always too busy trying to get my younger siblings ready for their school."

Jack was glad that he wasn't alone for lunch, that he had someone to sit with rather than being on his own. He wouldn't even mind sitting with her again tomorrow; if he was honest with himself, Jack didn't like the thought of sitting alone every day.

* * *

Jack walked into his bedroom, glanced at his iPhone speakers that were on his dresser, and decided he wanted some music. Jack dropped his backpack on his bed as he walked past it and plugged his phone into the speakers. He went to the Skillet album, Awake (Deluxe Version), and hit the shuffle button. "If I wasn't here tomorrow would anybody care?" The song Would It Matter started playing from the small dark red speakers. "If my time was up I'd wanna know you were happy I was there."

Jack looked around his room; it was filthy. He thought about trying to clean it that weekend, and hoped that he would have time.

Jack walked over to the side of his bed, stood there for a moment, and then fell face forward onto its plush surface so that his face was buried in the comforter and his feet were hanging off the other side. Jack groaned; it had been a tiring day. The first day of school always was.

* * *

**So, that was the first chapter! How did you like it, were there any spelling or grammatical errors? Tell me in a review! The best motivator that I know of for me is getting feedback on my stories.**

**I, being home-schooled, do not know a ton about public school. I want my story to be as accurate as possible, so if you would, please give me some pointers on how I am doing. Am I accurate on how public school is? Etc. Also, I need feedback on how my characters are. I don't want a story full of awful characters! No matter how good the plot, a story is NO GOOD without good characters.**

**Until next chappie,**

**~Kiearrah**


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